Happy new years eve everyone! Thanks for following along with me this past year. Now that it’s the end of the year I thought it would be a good idea to look back over the last twelve months and do a year in review all the projects Tony and I completed. Sometimes in the daily grind I forget all the projects we did actually finish, and it’s nice to take a look back.

We Finished Building Our House

About a year ago we officially “finished” building and got our occupancy permit. Of course a house is never really finished, and we will keep plugging away at projects. Here is a summary of our weekly progress as we built our house in 2016. If you’re considering building a house you might find this home building schedule helpful, and this budget worksheet.

Landscaping

We did a lot of landscaping over the summer, which included raking the lawn to remove all the rocks, planting grass seed, and watching it grow. I also planted a wildflower meadow in the front corner of our property and got quite a few flowers over the summer.

Finished Rooms

I participated as a guest in both the spring and fall One Room Challenge. In the spring I completed our hallway. My main goal was to finish off installing and painting all the trim in our house, but I still have a fair bit to do in the rest of the house. For the hallway, I made a colorful gallery wall with pictures of the family in painted frames.

In the fall I finished our master bedroom, which included some bedside table makeovers, a polka dot accent wall, and some colorful linens and wall art. You can tour the rest of our house to see where we’re at with each room, and what we have left to do.

Furniture Makeovers

I love painting furniture and turning junk into something beautiful. This past year I finished five different pieces. My favorite was the second hand dresser that I painted a light blue for the girls’ bedroom.

I also painted a ten dollar yard sale desk with white milk paint. All along I had planned to sell this one, but I loved it so much we decided to keep it.

I also refinished a curbside french provincial dresser. I completed sanded down the top and stained it a dark brown, and painted the rest of the dresser with a medium blue milk paint.

And finally, I restored a pair of end tables that looked like they were ready for the dump. I cleaned them up, painted them a lime green color, and added a solid cherry wood top.

DIY Projects

And in between the room makeovers, renovations, and furniture flips, I still had time to complete a few smaller DIY projects. Some of my favorites include:

• glass knob wall hooks
• curtain rods from PVC pipe
• dyed IKEA curtains
• pineapple pillow cover
• birch branch candles
• a barnboard clock
• spray painted ornaments
• ombre drop cloth cushion covers
• chalk paint picture frames